COMPTON : Killers of 2-Year-Old Boy Spared From Gas Chamber
Two youths convicted of murder in the 1989 drive-by shooting that killed a 2-year-old Compton boy have been spared the gas chamber by jurors who said they sympathized with the killers’ ages and backgrounds.
After about 90 minutes of deliberations, the Superior Court jury recommended that Ricky Johnson, 21, and David Florence, 22, be committed to life in prison without possibility of parole, said Robin Yanes, Florence’s attorney.
Johnson and Florence were convicted last month of two counts of murder, plus the special circumstance of multiple murder, for the Jan. 28, 1989, shootings of Phillip Fisher, 2, and Deandrea Richards, 19. The murders sparked protests in Compton that lead to a citywide ban on assault rifles.
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